Thursday, 28 March 2013

Another
station to tune for is Radio Kuwait's English language service. They produce a
programme we can hear in Europe and North America on 15540kHz from 1800 to 2100
UTC.

A whole three hour segment in English from an international broadcaster is
always a rare treat, and programmes include news and thoughts on Islam. Most
interesting for me are the Today in History features, The Press Today and the
various music the station plays.

Richard
Cooke tells me he got a huge bundle of items from Radio
Kuwait including an impressive looking QSL card resplendent with logos,
buildings and some important looking Arab gentlemen wearing their traditional
headdress.
The email address given on their current programme schedule is
kwtfreq@media.gov.kw or if you prefer snail mail the postal address is Radio
Kuwait, PO Box 967, Safat, 13010, Kuwait.

Saturday, 23 March 2013

Howard Barnett has asked me for information on
Radio Belarus' schedule and programmes.
They use just the two shortwave frequencies for all of their language
services. The transmitter switches in at 1100 UTC and runs through to 2300 UTC
on 11730kHz, while 6155kHz is on from 1705 and also stays on air until 2300
UTC. English is from 2100-2200
(from 2020 UTC at weekends). My favourite programme is probably Music box,
which plays a mix of modern and folk music every Monday. Postcard from Belarus
is an interesting historical and tourism
programme and Unlimited Nature explores the wildlife and countryside.

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

Radio
Exterior de España currently has an hour long broadcast on Saturday and Sunday evenings
from 2200 UTC on 6125kHz (in addition to their weekday programme slot of 1900
to 2000 UTC on 9605 and 9665kHz and 0000 to 0100 UTC on 6055kHz ).

Unusually
for an international broadcaster the interval signal, followed by the time pips,
does not always lead to a top of the hour news bulletin. Instead it has been
known to launch straight into a feature programme.

I enjoyed the music of (and
interview with) Spaniard Marcus Cole, a Madrid-based harmonica player who was
well known in his own right but who also toured with The Rolling Stones’ Mick
Taylor and Jimi Hendrix Experience’s drummer Buddy Miles. Radio Exterior de
España also have a new English language programme for 2013.

It is called The Three Cornered
Hat where presenters don their “respective hats to bring you news of
developments of particular interest to each of the three members of the
English-language team, Frank Smith, Alison Hughes and Justin Coe. It touches on
politics, the economy, sports, and music.” Email the station at ree.rne@rtve.es

Monday, 11 March 2013

I subscribe
to many different channels on Mixcloud and I’d like to think my choices are
wide ranging and eclectic. Here’s some of what I have been listening to over
the past month. Why not be brave
and take the plunge with me into some new genres, ideas and sounds?

I enjoyed DJ Ravemasters’ Renaissance mix, presented and
produced by Brioni Faith. Brioni’s music
is all about big atmosphere and up-tempo beats. Her vocals create an intimacy with the listener; inviting
you into her world, while the music is uplifting and inspiring. The mix itself
is at www.mixcloud.com/Trance_Mix/dj-ravemaster-renaissance/ with links to Brioni at www.brionifaith.com and www.facebook.com/brionifaith.musicIn their own words they
“decided to entitle this mix as Renaissance because of this new age, this new
world we are shifting into. Many are calling it the golden age, as we go through
this apocalypse. I use apocalypse in its original meaning, to uncover, to
reveal, to become more aware.“

For
something completely different how about the Eat My Mind Radio Show, a two hour
bonanza every Monday at 7 p.m. on Manchester community radio station NFM 106.6
or whenever you want it via www.mixcloud.com/EatMyMindRadioShowEntertainer X plays a blend
of “Out there TV and movie themes, kitsch,
incidental music, organs in orbit, mondo, exotica. We embrace the criminally
ignored and the ignorantly reviled. We
salute the men and women of the musical world that blew their minds and
continue to blow ours.”

Or you may be in the mood
for a cloudcast from Jazz Cat? This is an intriguing mix of styles including a
programme concentrating to modern jazz from Italy, and a marvellous series
called Lost and Found. www.mixcloud.com/maxvibes/

John Faulkner has a regular
programme which is an eclectic mix where he brilliantly mixes comedy snippets
with music. the end result is called All Mixed Up atwww.mixcloud.com/John_Faulkner/That put me in a lively
frame of mind soI then moved onto further banish
the winter blues with West Coast Sailing. They play a mix of "super smooth West coast crust." It put me in the mood
for a holiday on the west coast of the USA. www.mixcloud.com/saladsoundsystem/west-coast-salad/

If
you want something different to hear then London station Resonance FM has ever
inventive and quirky recordings. It's been successfully running as an FM
station on 104.4 on London, and online since way back in 2002. It "features programmes made by musicians,
artists and critics who represent the diversity of London’s arts scenes, with
regular weekly contributions from nearly two hundred musicians, artists,
thinkers, critics, activists and instigators; plus numerous unique broadcasts
by artists on the weekday Clear Spot." you can follow Resonance
FM atwww.mixcloud.com/Resonance/

Friday, 8 March 2013

A glance back at the early BBC World Service female news readers, from London Calling in February 1975. Back to today and I look forward to listening to the 2013 programme from the station for International Women's Day, in the Your World series: What if women ruled the world?

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Extract from my March 2013 LM&S Broadcast Matters column in Radio User

From Leicestershire
Denis Ironman has been in touch reminiscing on his favourite station Radio
Prague. He visited their studios in the then Czechoslovakia in 1972 and 1976
where he was interviewed by the a female presenter by the name of Eva. Denis
kindly sent me a Radio Prague fridge magnet, which complements the mini retro
radio the station sent me last year for winning one of their monthly
competitions.

I plucked out the
following section from the Radio Prague "On The Air" book which was
published for their 65th anniversary. this section looks back at their 1970s
heyday. “1972 saw the creation of Radio Prague
Interprogram - a specialised multi-language programme aimed at Western Europe.
The programme consisted of five hours of music, interrupted every 15 minutes by
news in Czech/Slovak, German, French and English. Later the programme was
extended and news in Russian added. Interprogram broadcast on short and medium
wave, and from 1976 also on FM, so it was also easy to pick up inside
Czechoslovakia. Because of its heavy music content, many Czechoslovaks listened
as well, even though Interprogram was intended mainly for foreigners.”

Today the station broadcasts daily in English
online and still issues QSL cards for reception reports. It seems somewhat
bizarre to receive a QSL card from a station you hear online, but it’s a nice
touch with their history. The 2013 series of eight QSL cards feature black and
white photos of classic Czechoslovak aircraft. Starting with the 1911 JK-system
Blériot aeroplane and the Bohemia B-5 which in 1919 became the first aircraft
built in the newly established Czechoslovakia, and coming up to date over 100 years
later with the L-410 Turbolet. This is currently the most commonly used
Czechoslovak-made transport plane and is especially popular in Africa and South
America.

Radio Prague is actually relayed on shortwave via WRMI (World Radio Miami
International) on 9955kHz at 1000 UTC (Mondays to Saturdays). Although it's a poor
substitute you do often hear Radio
Prague’s Rob Cameron also reporting for the BBC World Service on Czech matters.

Monday, 4 March 2013

Alex Terrace writes with information on his Shortwave Heaven website with charts for listening to short wave in NW Europe.

"Short wave radio has been around for a long time. It is a wonderfully reassuring feeling when far from home to listen to a familiar voice on a short wave radio. Sadly, short wave reception is increasingly difficult for people touring France, Germany and the rest of Europe. BBC World Service signals are now aimed only at Africa, Middle East and Asia.

But - if the skies are merciful - you can still hear the BBC bouncing off the ionosphere from somewhere distant. And China Radio International gives you a powerful signal, proudly telling listeners they will never give up on short wave. So don't ditch the short wave radio, polish it off and get tuning! It can be difficult to know what to look for. But these charts make listening quick and easy. This tells you everything heard in north west Europe in English."

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About Me

All views here at DX International are Chrissy's and not necessarily those of any organisations she is associated with. ////This blog contains a selection of Chrissy's articles, mostly those published in Radio User, plus her views on radio. She writes the monthly columns 'Radio Websites' and ' Long, Medium and Shortwave Broadcast Matters:'. Other of her articles published in 'Radio Active', 'Radio User', 'Satellite and Digital Choice' (all UK) and 'Monitoring Times' (US) can be found elsewhere in the radio blog. ////////
Chrissy is also the general editor of the BDXC British DX Club monthly journal 'Communication'. She's co-author of 'Wembley: Stadium of Legends', Tomsett & Brand, Dewi Lewis Media, 2007.
Chrissy also blogs at "Mancunian Wave-glimpses of Greater Manchester": http://mancunianwave.blogspot.com/
You can email her chrissylb@hotmail.co.uk